


Take This Sinking Boat and Point It Home

by elrondjolras



Category: Check Please! (Webcomic)
Genre: Accidental Cuddling, Accidental... Falling Asleep?, Because I was too lazy to write a 5+1 oops, Canon Compliant, It's like a 3+1, Jack Zimmermann would make an excellent pillow you know he would, M/M, Pining, sort of
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2016-11-23
Updated: 2016-11-23
Packaged: 2018-09-01 15:56:54
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/8630335
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/elrondjolras/pseuds/elrondjolras
Summary: Three times Bitty accidentally fell asleep on Jack (+ one time he did it on purpose)





	

**Author's Note:**

> title from [ Falling Slowly](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FkFB8f8bzbY) from Once

1.

Movie night at the Haus was always eventful and almost always ended with someone crying, someone shit-faced drunk, and someone asleep and drooling. More often than not, Shitty was all three.

Tonight’s theme, according to Ransom’s adeptly titled ‘Haus Movie Night Themes for the 2014/2015 Year’’ spreadsheet - and fuck you Holster, it was a perfectly good title - was horror night. Now Bitty didn’t wasn’t one to be easily scared; he had no qualms about going down to the basement the dark, he didn’t envision his impending and violent death every time a stair creaked or branch hit against his window but. There was just _something_ about horror movies, about the ominous music mixed with the inevitable jump scares mixed with the fact that the little guys _always_  seemed to meet some sort of  gruesome, bloody death that just, well, put him on edge a little. But let it not be said that Eric Richard Bittle was ever one to chicken out of anything because he was a little scared, and that is how he found himself in the living room at precisely 8pm, squished between Jack and the arm of the frankly monstrous couch that Bitty prayed his sitting on would be the scariest part of the night. 

He was wrong.

He got through most of the first movie well enough, having the excuse of pulling his pie out of the oven about ten minutes in, then proceeding to painstakingly cut it into perfectly equal slices and arrange them onto plates, successfully killing another half hour that way before Holster started yelling after him, asking what was taking so long. Which of course meant that Bitty had no choice but to rejoin the group in the living room - but not before making _several_ trips back to the kitchen because of course there was no way he could carry _everyone’s_ pie out in one trip.

He then had no choice but to settle back down and try to watch the next bit of the movie - until he could beg off to collect the plates, and possibly try to get away with washing up too, if Lardo didn’t come in after him and drag him back out again. After realizing he couldn’t very well spend the next hour or so staring at the pie in his lap, Bitty decided to suck it up and watch the rest of the movie. He had missed most of the beginning but it turned out to be a run-of-the-mill haunted house one that was really more comically bad than scary when Bitty thought about it. The over-exaggerated acting, frankly terrible CGI, and sound of Dex and Nursey bickering in the background about which character they thought most likely to survive the whole thing was just over the top enough for Bitty to settle back and actually enjoy the rest of the movie.

By the time the movie ended, to various cheers, sneers, and general yelling, Bitty was laughing along with the rest of them, relaxed - if not somewhat uncomfortable - and leaning against the arm of the couch. He didn’t really have another option anyway; he was too settled in to move, and sharing the couch with Jack, Ransom, _and_ Holster meant that there was minimum space to move, and well. There was no way he was leaning against Jack.

There was a bit of debate over the second movie, but ultimately Lardo, Dex, and Chowder won, and before long the opening credits were playing to a movie Bitty didn’t recognize, but from what he understood from the argument, was about an exorcism or something like that.

From the get-go, Bitty knew something was wrong, and that this movie was astronomically different from the one they had just seen. For one, the entire group was immediately much more subdued, and two, the first jumpscare happened about two minutes in, followed by another only a few seconds later. And these jumpscares were _scary_ , as in Bitty was sure somewhere between the two Shitty tried to jump into Lardo’s lap. Not having any excuse to leave this time, Bitty resigned himself to the next two hours of what would probably be pure torture, and hunkered down as best he could into the arm of the couch, hiding his face in the crook of his arm.

Bitty didn’t know how much time had passed when he felt a tap on his shoulder. He lifted his head to be met with Jack’s worried gaze staring down at him. “Bittle,” he whispered, “are you okay? Are you scared?”

Bitty forced what he hoped was a genuine smile and whispered back “No! No, I’m fine, really, continue watching!” Jack looked unconvinced and after a moment’s hesitation reached over and tugged at Bitty’s shoulders until he was leaning into Jack’s side, Jack’s arm snug around his shoulders. 

“Is this okay?” he whispered, breath ghosting over Bitty’s ear.

Bitty tried not to shiver. “Yeah.” he replied softly, and then after a few more moments, “Thank you, Jack.”

Bitty tried not to get too comfortable, but Jack was warm, and his chest was much nicer to hide his face in that the arm of the couch had been, and before Bitty knew it, he found himself nodding off to the rise and fall of Jack’s breathing and the continued noises of the movie playing in the background. 

* * *

 

When he blinked awake some time later, the room was quiet and dark, save for the dim light emanating from Jack’s phone screen as he scrolled through it. His other arm was still wrapped around Bitty.

“Hey,” Bitty whispered, voice sleep-heavy.

“Hey,” Jack whispered back. “Sleep well?”

“I’m sorry, I didn’t mean to fall asleep on you like that,” Bitty groaned, “You could have just woken me up.” 

“It’s okay, Shitty, Ransom, and Holster only just went up a little while ago anyway.”

“Well we should probably…”

“Oh! Right, of course,” Jack said, pulling his arm back in from where it had been resting around Bitty. Bitty tried not to notice how much colder he felt when he did. “I’m gonna head up now then,” Jack said, pushing himself up to his feet and walking to the staircase. “Coming?”

Bitty nodded and followed him up and into their respective rooms. “Jack?” he called out as Jack was about to close his bedroom door, “Thank you. For… you know.”

The corner of Jack’s mouth lifted into a little half-smile. “Anytime Bittle. Goodnight.” he replied, and pulled his door shut the rest of the way.

 

2.

Bitty had grown familiar with the adrenaline and chaos that always accompanied roadies. He loved the way the whole team grew closer on the trips, the way everyone’s energy seemed to be ten times higher, and the general  feel of being constantly surrounded by the boys who had grown to be his little family over the last year and a half.

The bus rides to and from their games were always Bitty’s favourite part - it didn’t matter whether the team was riled up and arguing about something or the other or whether the majority of them were asleep, the sound of passing cars and light snores the only noise Bitty could hear.

On this particular occasion, the team was heading back to Samwell after an extremely successful 6-1 win, and energy was high, with rambunctious laughter and a multitude of voices talking over each other the only sound Bitty could hear for the first half of the journey. However, the day had been long and tiring, and no amount of victory-induced giddiness could keep exhaustion from eventually falling over everyone as they slowly started to settle into their seats, some pulling out readings for class while others fell straight asleep.

Bitty was sitting next to Jack this time, who had wanted to go over some new plays he thought they could work out together, especially after the two beautiful assists Bitty had given him earlier that day. When they had agreed on a couple new tricks to try once they were settled back at Samwell, Bitty tipped his head back against the seat and closed his eyes, the events of the day finally catching up to him. When he looked back at Jack a few moments later, he had taken his camera out and was flipping through the pictures Bitty guessed he’d taken on roadie. Bitty watched him in silence for a few minutes, taking in how the passing streetlights illuminated Jack’s profile. How Jack’s face was unguarded and open, the way he stopped to look at some pictures more closely than others, frowning at some, smiling softly at others, before moving on to the next.

The warm feeling that seemed to fill Bitty whenever he looked at Jack nowadays was almost immediately (as if on cue) tainted by the harsh jab of reality as he had to remind himself that there was no point in pining over a boy like Jack who would never love him back. He sighed softly, although not as softly as he would have liked, as Jack picked up on the noise and turned to face him, a small but genuine smile appearing on his face. “You okay there Bittle?”

Bitty tried to ignore the way his heart picked up at seeing Jack smile at him, and instead focused on nodding in reply.

“You wanna see?” Jack motioned to his camera with a tilt of his head.

“Wait really?”

“Of course!” And with that Jack scooted over on their shared seat until he was almost fully pressed up against Bitty’s side, holding the camera out between them as he started flipping through the pictures, pausing every now and again to relate a little anecdote about the picture they were looking at.

Bitty didn’t know how long they sat there for, heads bent over Jack’s camera, murmuring softly to each other, but the last thing he remembered before passing out was thinking that he would like very much to stay there forever, the gentle rocking motion of the bus combined with Jack’s lilting accent in his ear making him feel the most content he’d ever been.

* * *

 

When Bitty awoke a few hours later it was still dark outside. His head was resting in the crook of Jack’s shoulder and his neck felt a bit stiff from sleeping at a bad angle for so long. Jack’s head was resting on top of his, his breathing deep and even. Bitty closed his eyes, absolutely did _not_ snuggle in a bit closer to Jack, and went back to sleep.

 

3.

Bitty was grateful every single day that Jack signed on with the Falconers and not a team on the other end of the country. Still, Jack’s (relatively) close proximity didn’t mean he and Bitty could see each other all the time - something Bitty’s mind had secretly convinced itself would happen. In fact, they ran into scheduling conflicts way more often than they found time when they were both free; it was either Jack was out on a roadie or Bitty had a test or Jack had practice or Bitty had a game or Jack had a game or the boys at the Haus were getting suspicious and the list went on and on and on. But still. They made it work.

They skyped as often as they could, texted every day, and Jack did drive up for kegsters every now and again. And sometimes, on days like today when he felt the separation the most, Bitty would skip his last Friday class, borrow Lardo’s car, and head down to Providence for the weekend.

Bitty let himself into Jack’s apartment with the spare key Jack had given him about a month ago. “You should have one,” he’d insisted, “It’s your home too, in a way. That is - only if you want it to be. You don’t have to.”

Bitty had kissed him and also may have cried a little. But that was okay because Jack may have cried a little too. Especially when Bitty then proceeded to make him  _ two _ maple pies after tucking the key safely in his pocket with a slightly teary “ _ This boy. _ ”

That night had been one of his favourite memories in Jack’s apartment, he thought, dropping his backpack off in Jack’s bedroom and heading to the kitchen to start dinner. He hoped more than anything else that there would be plenty more and even better memories to be made, sappy as that sounded. Fortunately, Jack wasn’t completely inept at keeping himself fed on things other than protein shakes, and Bitty found his fridge well-enough stocked to make a casserole for that night. He knew Jack would be at practice for another hour or so, and would probably want to eat but be too tired to cook when he got home, anyway. So he started up his cooking playlist and got to work.

* * *

 

An hour later, right on cue as Bitty was pulling the casserole out of the oven, the front door opened and Jack’s voice rang through the apartment. “Bits? That you?”

“You got other people coming in here to cook for you, Mr. Zimmermann?” Bitty teased, setting the dish down on the counter to cool as Jack came up behind him, plastering himself along Bitty’s back and snaking his arms around his middle.

“Just you. Only you. You know that.” Jack said, pressing his lips to the top of Bitty’s head. “I didn’t know you were coming down this weekend. Thought you had a test.”

Bitty turned fully in Jack’s arms and kissed him properly on the lips. “I do. I just thought I could study here instead.”

“ _ Bits. _ ”

“I missed you!”

Jack sighed. “I missed you too,” he said, leaning down to rest his forehead against Bitty’s. “But I’m serious. You need to study.”

“ _ Yes, Captain! _ ” Bitty grinned up at him, ducking to avoid Jack reaching out to ruffle his hair. “Now come on, let’s eat.”

* * *

 

Two hours later they were full, relaxed, and snuggled up on Jack’s couch, Bitty attempting to get through at least a few chapters of his textbook while Jack immersed himself in a history documentary that was playing on TV, fingers idly running through Bitty’s hair.

Half an hour later, Bitty had moved to lie down on the couch, head in Jack’s lap, book balanced on his chest, and Jack’s fingers still combing through his hair. Ten minutes after that he was asleep.

 

+1

When he awoke this time he was tucked in on his side of Jack’s bed (because yes, he had a  _ side _ now). He propped himself up on one arm and glanced at the flashing lights of the little digital clock on Jack’s nightstand. Just after one in the morning. He rubbed at his eyes, about to get up and look for Jack when the door to the en suite opened and Jack walked in, bare-chested and a pair of sweatpants slung low on his hips.

“Hi,” he whispered, climbing into the other side of the bed and pulling Bitty down to lie on top of him. “Did I wake you?”

“No, I woke up on my own.” Bitty said, voice still slurring with sleep. “Was just gonna come get you.” He wrapped his arms securely around Jack and pressed a kiss to his sternum. “But I got you now.”

He felt Jack’s chest rumble with quiet laughter under his head. “Yeah, you sure did. Goodnight, Bits.”

“G’night Jack”  
And then he was asleep.

**Author's Note:**

> thanks for reading, i'm on [twitter](https://twitter.com/iscarosaac) if you wanna hmu!


End file.
